Nordic Bioproducts Group – has successfully spun a new plant-based textile fiber. The company is a spin-off from Aalto University in Finland and the proprietor of the patented AaltoCell™ technology. The company has created a new plant-based textile fiber – Norratex, manufactured without toxic chemicals or expensive solvents. Nordic Bioproducts Group is a Finnish start-up developing new biomaterials founded in 2019, which employs 16 product development engineers, researchers, commercial and design professionals in Espoo.
The demand for sustainable and responsible textile fibers is constantly growing. Current methods have a detrimental impact on the environment. Resource-intensive cotton production is already at an extreme, and polyester, in turn, is a significant source of microplastic emissions. Moreover, the production of wood-based viscose fiber requires dissolution with toxic carbon disulfide. New and sustainable alternatives from wood and plant-based feedstock are required to address the sustainability challenges of the textile industry. The sustainable man-made cellulosic fibers market is expected to grow above 10% within the next decade. Competition in the field of new textile fibers is accelerating, and the first players in the industry are already commercializing their products and approaching industrial-scale production. Many of these innovations are Finnish, such as Aalto University’s Ioncell fiber, Metsa Spring Oy’s Kuura fiber, Spinnova Oy’s fiber, and Infinited Fibre Company’s Infinna fiber.
The Norratex process
In the Nordic Bioproducts method, the cellulose is first hydrolyzed in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective manner, after which the fiber is further processed into a viscose-like textile fiber. The inventor of the AaltoCell ™ method, Professor Olli Dahl at Aalto University, was convinced from an early on that the method, developed by Nordic Bioproducts, could be applied in the production of plant-based textile fibers.
